14 Nov 2014

THE WHO TRIBUTE NIGHT AT SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE

Photograph © 2104 Mick Hutson

Well, Wholigans! What a night! The Who Hits 50! celebrations kicked off on Tuesday November 11 at Shepherds Bush Empire with an evening of Who music performed by a stellar cast. Hosted by Radio 2’s Chris Evans, the evening began with a short and very emotional film of the Teenage Cancer Trust’s work directed by Shane Meadows. Then on came The Who touring band of Simon Townshend, Pino Palladino, Billy Nicholls, John Coury, Frank Simes, Loren Gold and Zak Starkey who were to be the house band for the night. The music kicked off with ex-Razorlight’s Andy Burrows singing a very passable ‘I Can’t Explain’ followed immediately by The Strypes accompanied by Wilko Johnson on fine form performing ‘The Kids Are Alright’. Next up, on piano and singing ‘Getting In Tune’ was Tom Odell. Amy McDonald then came on to do ‘Behind Blue Eyes’. This was then followed by a film message and thumbs up from Macca and a hilarious film of Iggy Pop at his house in LA strumming a guitar and murmuring his way through ‘My Generation’.

Here’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’ from The Strypes and Wilko Johnson

Tom Odell sings ‘Getting In Tune’

Above: Rizzle Kicks sing ‘Who Are You’

Then next up were the amazing Rizzle Kicks leaping about the stage doing a great version of ‘Who Are You’ with some fantastic rapping thrown in for good measure. On to the stage ambled American comedian Rich Hall to sing, or rather, growl his way through ‘You Better You Bet’ during which he waded into the audience and attempted to crowd surf with not much success! Johnny Vegas was up next to do, as he said, a couple of minutes of stand up, but instead he waxed lyrical for two minutes about the brilliance of Quadrophenia and what it meant to him growing up, including a few brief and raspy verses of ‘Dr Jimmy’ and then from a request from the audience he launched into ‘The Real Me’. After that it was Kaiser Chief’s Ricky Wilson singing a brilliant rendition of ‘5:15’ followed by ‘Bell Boy’. When it came to the chorus who should walk on stage but Phil Daniels wearing an old parka festooned in patches and Who badges! Phil’s performance was a great take off if Keith’s way of singing ‘Bell Boy’ and he stole the show. Joe Elliott from Def Leppard was up next to continue the Quadrophenia theme by singing ‘Love Reign O’er Me’. Joe was followed by Sheila Ferguson from the Three Degrees looking amazing in a skin tight lacy dress and belting out ‘Acid Queen’ from Tommy. (Strangely, no-one last night had a go at ‘Pinball Wizard’).

Photograph © 2104 Mick Hutson

Above: Ricky Wilson and Phil Daniels

Liam Gallagher: ‘My Generation’

Eddie Vedder: ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’

Roger Daltrey: ‘Young Man Blues’

Photograph © 2104 Mick Hutson

Above: Roger Daltrey with TCT’s Angie Jenkison who organised the event.

The full set list was:

1. ‘I Can’t Explain’ – Andy Burrows
2. ‘The Kids Are Alright’ – The Strypes with Wilko Johnson
3. ‘Getting In Tune’ – Tom Odell
4. ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ – Amy Macdonald
5. ‘Who Are You’ – Rizzle Kicks
6. ‘You Better You Bet’ – Rich Hall
7. ‘Dr Jimmy’ – Johnny Vegas
8. ‘The Real Me’ – Johnny Vegas
9. ‘5:15’ – Ricky Wilson
10. ‘Bell Boy’ – Ricky Wilson and Phil Daniels
11. ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ – Joe Elliott
12. ‘Acid Queen’ – Sheila Ferguson
13. ‘The Seeker; Geddy Lee
14. ‘Baba O’Riley’ – Leslie Mendelson
15. ‘My Generation’ – Liam Gallagher
16. ‘Naked Eye’ – Eddie Vedder
17. ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ – Eddie Vedder
18. ‘Listening To You’ – Eddie Vedder
19. ‘Substitute’ – Roger Daltrey
20. ‘Young Man Blues’ – Roger Daltrey

And lastly, here is Shane Meadows’ film for Teenage Cancer Trust. Thanks for watching and afterwards if you would like to donate, you can do so here http://tinyurl.com/2updevg